Banned England prop Matt Stevens said Thursday his positive drugs test had come as a "massive" relief.

South Africa-born Stevens, 26, was last week banned from all levels of rugby until January 18, 2011 after testing positive for cocaine following Bath's European Cup clash with Glasgow in December.

The ban has ruled him out of the British and Irish Lions' tour of his native South Africa later this year and he would now appear to have only the slimmest of chances of playing for England at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

Stevens, who has since quit Bath before being sacked, describing his decision as the "honourable thing,", told BBC Radio on Thursday: "I hope with every grain of my soul that one day I will be able to come back and be a better rugby player than I was."

Asked if he felt a sense of relief when testing positive, Stevens said: "Massive. It was incredible. I've been open and it's really difficult to tell people this but I suppose I should.

"I've been very happy in the last four or five weeks and that is hard to say because I am not playing for England - I'm watching my team-mates play, and that hurts.

"But health-wise and mentally, I haven't been this well for years and I think that is indicative of how much pressure I was putting on myself and not dealing with it particularly well," said Stevens, who explained he'd also had an alcohol problem.

"It wasn't cocaine all the time - cocaine was something that got worse and worse at the end of this period.

"It was just the way I wasn't dealing with things mentally and I think binge-drinking had a big thing to do with it as well."

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